Network Support for Multicast Video Distribution

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1998Author
Bhattacharjee, Samrat
Calvert, Kenneth L.
Zegura, Ellen W.
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Multicast video distribution in a best-effort environment presents
challenges to system designers, including heterogeneity in the
bandwidth availability on the paths from the sender to the receivers
and dynamic behavior in the network and set of receivers over time.
Classic approaches to dealing with dynamic conditions involve
adaptation at the sender (for unicast) and adaptation driven by the
receivers (for multicast). Both approaches have limitations that
affect the quality of video received. In this paper, we consider a
third option for the location of adaptation, namely: in the network.
We demonstrate that a modest amount of state and computation at
network routers can yield significant performance gains for multicast
video distribution. Our schemes maintain the advantages of
receiver-based adaptation, while overcoming the limitation. Since the
network applies the adaptation, the time and place for adaptation can
better match network conditions. Further, the adaptation can occur
more rapidly, without the need for route changes. Finally, the
adaptation can occur at finer granularity, providing better quality
and more graceful degradation to receivers.